Il 19 maggio 2022, l’Osservatorio organizza una conferenza online e faccia a faccia dalle 17:00 alle 18:30 (CET) tradotta in inglese, francese, italiano e spagnolo.  Leggi il programma.  Linkper registrarsi alla conferenza: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1FsZ0dwCQmiIQOBTHRmIWA 

The International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger supports the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective in the context of the Cajar v. Colombian State hearings before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. This is the first case of illegal intelligence against human rights lawyers to reach the IACHR.  Alfredo Irujo, member of the executive committee of the Observatory, has denounced on behalf of the Observatory, the impunity for acts that violate the privacy and professional secrecy of CAJAR and all lawyers in Colombia. It also affirms that the hearings before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on 12 and 13 May should make it possible to measure the impact of these threats to the work and life of human rights defenders in Colombia, as well as to point the way towards the comprehensive protection of the work and of human rights defenders.    Finally, it encourages the Colombian state to provide concrete and transparent information on the identification of the victims of illegal eavesdropping activities. In such a way that they can exercise their right of access to justice and effective measures are taken so that these serious human rights violations are not repeated and are clarified.  

Osman Kavala, publisher, sponsor and human rights defender, who has been arbitrarily imprisoned for the past four and a half years, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Lawyer Can Atalay and six other defendants were sentenced to 18 years in prison, without any evidence.  Osman Kavala was, on 25 April 2022, convicted by the 13th Istanbul Assize Court of “attempting to overthrow the government” under Article 312/1 of the Turkish Penal Code in the Gezi Park trial. Nearly 5 million people participated in the peaceful Gezi Park protests across the country in 2013, marking the beginning of the authoritarian and repressive drift of the Turkish authorities in major Turkish cities.  Lawyer Can Atalay, as well as the architect Mücella Yapıcı, the producer Çiğdem Mater, the Bogazici University Science Po director Hakan Altınay, the documentary film director Mine Özerden, the architect Tayfun Kahraman, and the professor Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi, were sentenced to 18 years in prison by the same court, on political grounds.  This verdict not only contradicts the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, which condemned Turkey for violating Osman Kavala’s right to freedom, imprisoned “with the aim of silencing him”, but also exposes once again the lack […]

L’Osservatorio e i suoi membri, il Conseil National des Barreaux (CNB), l’Ordine degli avvocati di Parigi e l’Ordine degli avvocati di Bologna, hanno assistito il 23 marzo 2022 al processo contro i componenti dell’Associazione degli avvocati progressisti” (CHD). In questo processo, 22 avvocati, membri dell’associazione CHD, sono stati perseguiti dal 2013 sulla base della legge turca antiterrorismo. Ebru TIMTIK ha perso la vita dopo uno sciopero della fame di 238 giorni, intrapreso per ottenere un giusto processo. Selçuk KOZAGACLI, ex presidente del CHD e Barkın TIMTIK, avvocato e sorella di Ebru, sono stati imprigionati per quasi 6 anni. Fin dall’inizio di questo processo gli avvocati contestano l’insieme degli elementi su cui si fonda l’accusa: i protagonisti del caso, l’indagine, le prove e i testimoni. Il procuratore che ha predisposto l’atto d’accusa è stato condannato all’ergastolo per “appartenenza al movimento gulenista” ed è attualmente in fuga. Il vicedirettore della divisione antiterrorismo di Istanbul e gli ufficiali di polizia in servizio nella divisione sono perseguiti, tra le altre cose, per “falso”, “formazione di prove false” e “alterazione di dati digitali ottenuti illegalmente”. Il principale investigatore, l’ufficiale di polizia che ha eseguito le istruzioni del suddetto procuratore, è stato licenziato e perseguito per […]

The Observatory supports women lawyers   March 8 is the International Women’s Rights Day. On this occasion, the Observatory wishes to put forward profiles of women lawyers who fight for the recognition of their rights in their country.    Many women lawyers are persecuted in the world, the Observatory affirms its support. As members of the profession, these women must be recognized the same rights as their colleagues.     The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers adopted by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders held in Havana (Cuba) in 1990 reaffirms in its preamble that: ““the peoples of the world affirm, inter alia , their determination to establish conditions under which justice can be maintained, and proclaim as one of their purposes the achievement of international cooperation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion”.  Some of our colleagues have recently been victims of violence and intimidation in the course of their work.  In Afghanistan, Latifa Sharifi was threatened for her fight against domestic violence against women.   In the Philippines, Czarina Musni, committed to the protection of vulnerable people and […]